Kerala IT Minister PK Kunhalikutty opens the NASSCOM supported Start-UP warehouse in Kochi, Kerala The state's IT secretary PH Kurien can be seen at extreme left. Ravi Gururaj, Chair, NASSCOM Product Council, can be seen right of the minister

NASSCOM sets up Start-up warehouse in Kerala but some ironies remain

Kochi, September 22, 2015: The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) last week inaugurated a start-up warehouse at the Infopark in Kochi in support of the Kerala government's plans to build entrepreneurial capabilities in the state.
The start-up warehouse has been of Kerala, create a vibrant community to connect investors, mentors and start-up entrepreneurs, and building tech-entrepreneurship as a preferred career option.
The warehouse will be managed by NASSCOM’s 10,000 Start-ups program. The steering committee of Start-up Warehouse, Kochi includes Dr. Jayasankar Prasad, CEO, Kerala Start-up Mission, Mr. Hrishikesh Nair, CEO, Infopark, Mr. Mukund Krishna, CEO, Suyati Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Mr. Sunil Balakrishnan, Global Head for Development Center Operations, UST Global and Mr. Ashok Madaravally, Deputy Director, NASSCOM 10,000 Startups. Six start-ups shortlisted who will be operating from here are: CIED, Agrima Infotech, Janta Solutions, GeoSpice Location Intelligence, Quadproso, and Rabitech.
Said Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy: “Exactly 3 years from today, Kerala state announced the student entrepreneurship policy when more than 300 student startups came into force. The State Govt. will extend all support for the 3rd NASSCOM Start-up Warehouse at Infopark, Kochi, to ensure this collaboration gets more tech entrepreneurs in the fore front.” See a video of the CM's remarks here
Started in April 2013, 10,000 Start-ups is an ambitious attempt by NASSCOM to scale up the start-up ecosystem in India by 10x. 10,000 Start-ups aims to enable incubation, funding and support for 10,000 technology start-ups in India over the next ten years.

Start-up policy
The development comes on the heels of the Kerala government announcing a specific policy for startups in the state.Rasberry Pi
In another development in Kerala, the Electronics@School programme in the state has decided on the Rasberry Pi as the platform to nurture creativity i schools. Some 7500 units of the credit card sized computer will be distributed to students in government schools. The electronics kit, is aligned with the Physics syllabus of classes 9 and 10. Our earlier report here
The state has also been proactive in rolling out a roadmap for IPv6 development.
It launched a pioneering Startup Village in Kochi with help from Infosys cofounder 'Kris' Gopalakerishnan. But the irony is that in spite of these efforts, startups seem to prefer traditional destinations like Bangalore, reports P Kishore. In the past five months, when more than Rs10,000 crore ( Rs 100 billion)was invested in start-ups, most of it was taken away by Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. Kerala did not get even Rs. 50 crore ( Rs 500 million) he writes in Malayala Manorama.